Byron Bay: As Good As It Gets Just Got Better

Updates abound!

I'm not even sure where to begin.

It is currently 8:20pm Gold Coast Time and I am sitting at the FREE-TO-ANYONE-WHO-WANTS-TO-USE-IT-EVEN-IF-YOU'RE-NOT-A-GUEST-HERE laptop with internet at the Greenland Guesthouse and Resort in Byron Bay, NSW, Australia.
I arrived 2 days ago with pretty much everything to my name here in the land of Men at Work and decided to really wing it with this trip; I booked no accomodation.
On my other jaunts, pre-booking a room turned out to be sort of silly.
Plus, there are always* day-of booking deals.
So, I decided not to book anything. Whatsoever. At all.

*except on this trip.

As it's peak season in Byron (school vacation for the children/bratty teens and summer for everyone else), not pre-booking was a very bad idea.
After my 12 hour-turned-18-hour bus ride from Sydney, I arrived on Jonson Street and had nowhere to go.
But first, that bus ride.

Oh, that bus ride.
It was scheduled to leave at 10:30pm, and it did.
It was not scheduled to break down at 3am in the middle of the road somewhere along the eastern coast of Australia, but it also did.
The driver noticed I was the only one awake so he recruited me to help as his mechanic.
[It should be noted that the extent of my mechanics experience was when I was about 8 or 9 years old and would re-chain the bikes for the other kids in my neighborhood. It was a successful if short-lived career, and some of my neighbors still bring it up.]

Anyway, the bus broke down for 2 hours.

When we got to Byron, it was 1pm, about 30 degrees Celcius, and I realized I had nowhere to put my stuff.
So I jumped on a computer and tried to book a hostel but had no luck because there were no vacancies ANYWHERE. [Not an exaggeration. Read that LITERALLY.]
I refreshed my search and found one called the Greenland Guesthouse and Resort that had 1 room available for $45 and I jumped on it.
I got a taxi over to the "resort" and the girl at the desk gave me a very unhappy smile and told me there was a mistake and that the website didn't update and that there was indeed no room available.
Then I panicked, internally.
Then I asked her if I could work for accomodation.
She went to ask her boss, who I met and spoke to.
He noticed my Israeli flag sandals, I noticed his Hebrew accent, and voila.
I've been living in an abandonded campervan in the back lot for the past 2 nights and so far, so great. (Pictures will be posted soon)

The work part of my job isn't too bad; mostly turning beds down and cleaning bathrooms.
But really, I don't mind cleaning and it's nice to see that even at budget hostels, the towels and sheets are actually laundered and clean.*
Usually I'm done by noon, and the rest of my day is miiiiiine.

*Not the comforters though. Not at all.

So far, I've been to the beach, to the town, and to Minyon Falls.
I recommend all 3.
Only thing about the falls is, there are leeches EVERYWHERE. [Not an exaggeration. Read that LITERALLY.]
I thought I had a bug bite and when I went to look it was in fact 4 leeches stuck to my ankle.
I also went to a rodeo that Byron hosted last night.
That was an experience.
One of the British girls called it "special." I would agree.
I tried to explain the concept of the rodeo to the Israelis, but it was lost on them.
Instead, I asked how you say "pointless" and "animal abuse" in Hebrew.
Pretty sure they get it now.

I've also met some of the other "guests" at the "resort," most of whom are working here as well.
One girl, from Oklahoma, is nice if a bit...not-up-to-date-with-"The Office" which makes her a disappointing find.
There's also a Brazilian guy here named Jorge who is the most Brazilian Brazilian I've ever met. Cocky, gorgeous, tan, barefoot, laughing, and generally unintelligible.
There are also those 2 Israelis staying in the tent next to mine, friends of the owner. They're both named Shay and are both pretty hilarious.
They invited me to the falls today and it reminded me just how out of shape I am and how great at hiking Israelis are.
But it was a beautiful hike and it felt great to be covered in sweat [and leeches] after being pretty sedentary in Sydney post-dive.

That was a lot of information.